Garment bag rack



' Nov. 17, 1942. w. w. Mer-'ALL GARMENT BAG RACK Filed Sept. 18, 1940 Patented Nov. 17, 19d-2 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE Claims.

My primary object is to provide a garment bag supporting rack including' means for supporting a plurality of garment bags so that the garment bags can be withdrawn from the'bag support with the minimum of effort, and with the assurance that only one at a time will be so withdrawn. Also, that after being withdrawn the bag can be placed over a garment on a garment hanger.

Another object of my invention is to provide a special type of garment rack capable of supporting as many as five-hundred bags compactly in an elevated position, to be individually torn from their supported position and drawn directly over a garment.

Another object of my invention is to provide bag supporting means including an upwardly inclined pin on which bags are somewhat loosely hung, the bags having holes adjacent their upper ends with means located adjacent the pin to permit only one bag at a time to occupy a removal position, and where an upper edge of the pin is sharpened to facilitate tearing out the hole of the bag, thus permitting it to be readily removable from the pin.

Another object is to provide a friction bar against which the bags rest with means to prevent crumpling of the bag as it is removed from the supported position.

Another object is to so support the supporting means for the bag that it may be raised to various operating positions, lowered to a loading position, or be tipped to vary the degree of friction between a friction bar and the bags.

Still another object is to provide bars with pins for bags of different lengths, and provide parallel bars hinged to permit access to each supporting pin of an adjacent bar.

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the device.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of Fig. 1. A

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section of the cutting end of the pin supporting the bags.

Fig. 4 is a sectional detail of a boX containing the mechanism for elevating, lowering and tilting the rack. f

Fig. 5 is an enlarged section on lines 3-3 of Fig. 2 showing a set of bags on a pin, with a follower plate.

Fig. 6 is a section of a bag of the common type used forv enclosing garments.

As shown, the apparatus includes a pulley box I0 adapted to be supported against the ceiling or in an elevated position. A rope I3 has anchorage at two points within the pulley box and extends over the pulleys to the bottom thereof.

This rope I3 operates pulleys II to support a horizontal member I4. A cam I2 in the pulley box operates between the rope I3 and the cam surface I2 to hold the member III- in any devised position, there being a clip I3 on the rope I3 to lock the rope in any position desired. Attached to and dependent from the horizontal member I4 are a plurality of depending bars I5 and I8 shown in the drawing, but which may be multiplied to a number desired: the front bar I5 being ordinarily a lixed member with supporting member Id, the adjacent bars being hingedly swung from the member I4 providing for reloading of bags upon the pins 20. The bar I5 and the bar I8 are each provided, at a selected point adjacent the bag supports, with a transverse substantially triangular member I6 and I6 adapted to position the bags until they are withdrawn singly. The bar l5 and the bar I8 are each bent at an oblique angle at a point separated from the lower edge of the transverse member I6 as indicated in I5 and I8: this arrangement provides, in connection with the member I6, a frictional support for the bags and provides that as a bag is drawn down from its connection on pin 26 the weight of the bags remaining supported on pin 20 form a pressure of resistance so that the single bag being drawn downwardly is maintained intact until it reaches the point of release of the bag onto a garment. I'I is a. point where the pin 2u is fixedly inserted in the bar I5 in the one case, and the bar I8 in a similar case. lu is a hinge giving flexibility to bar lil and to any bars in similar position. lein zi) is flxedly positioned in the par lo, and adjacent the point ci attachment to the bar I5, it 1s sharpened at 2| so that as tile individual bag is drawn to position under tile ledge oi' a biaciiet u it is in position to oe easily torn in tile aperture zu o1 bag a and tiius be easily individually reiiioveu. ri Ioliowei plate a4 in one instance and ze in the other are substantially theiorm or plates w and io, ano. are adapted to ireeiy slide down trie pin u pressing the bags in the direction oil the depending bars and maintaining the bags transversely 1n periect position between I6 ana 14.

ln the operation or the apparatus bags of tenuous structure are suspended in iaige quantities trom the pins 2li, and the terminals or' the bars l5 and it are adapted to be maintained at an elevation where the bottom of the bags are just at a point to be dropped over a garment hanging upon a garment bagging apparatus as shown in my copending application, Serial Number 302,067.

I claim:

l. In a garment bag rack, a substantially horizontal bar, a plurality of elongated depending bars, each said depending bar having a vertical upper portion and a lower portion inclined at an angle oblique to the Vertical, a frictional face plate transversely positioned on the vertical portion, an upwardly extending pin xed in the bar immediately adjacent the faceplate.

2. A claim in accordance with claim 1, a plate substantially similar to the frictional faceplate slidably mounted on the pin to maintain frictional contact of the bags mounted on said pin.

3. A garment bag rack comprising a substan tially horizontal bar, a plurality of depending bars, each depending bar having a vertical upper portion and a lower portion Oblique to the Vertical, a frictional faceplate positioned on the vertica l portion of the bar, a pin fixed in the bar adjacent the faceplate, a bracket attached to the Vertical portion of the bar to control bag release from the pin to a single unit, a knife formation on the pin adjacent the bracket adapted to assist cleavage of the bag from the pin.

4. In a garment bag rack, a substantially horizontal bar, a plurality of elongated bars depending therefrom, a primary bar xedly joined to the horizontal bar, at least one bar hinged to the horizontal bar, a pin xed in each bar extending outwardly at an upward angle, a transverse faceplate attached to the bar adjacent the pin, means adjacent the pin to automatically limit to a unit the removal of a bag from the pin.

5. A garment bag rack comprising a horizontal supporting member, a plurality of elongated depending bars, each bar having an upper spaced portion substantially vertical to the supporting member, a lower frictional portion bent oblique to the Vertical, a pin seated in the vertical portion of each bar projected at an upward angle bearing a freely slidable member thereon, a transverse bag positioning face plate xedly attached to the bar adjacent the pin, aknife-edge formed on the pin adjacent its point of seating in the bar, a bracket projected from the bar over the knife-edge of the pin toA limit the passage of a single bag onto the knife-edge of the pin.

WILLIAM Vl MCFALL. 

